Toast 2 Mom

Related - not-what-so-ever

Day to day I jabber about my daughters and motherhood and such. While I'm sure I have a story or two to share, today I'm just going to post a couple photos of our backyard. We've almost lived in our new state for a year. We're still getting used to the climate, temperatures and seasons. To us it should still be cold, snowy and wet. About the most we get of that is mild, misty and fog. There have been several foggy days here lately. I'm not sure if this is a common thing for December or not. However, it has created some pretty interesting sunsets out our back door in the evening. I took a couple photos...because I thought it was neat.

 

Raspberry Fingers

I remember always requesting that black olives be provided at my grandma's house for the holidays when I was little. Not only did I find them yummy, but they were the perfect decorative touch to my finger tips.

It was fun this year to see my daughter doing the same thing. Good fun never gets old - generation after generation.

I didn't get any photos of her with olive hands this year; but this morning at breakfast, Syd taught me that you don't just need olives to have some finger fun!

 

A Decorated Tree - check

Well, I am soaring through my list of Christmas to-do's. Today I got the lights fixed outside, the decorations up around the house and the tree covered with lights and ornaments. Now I only hope that the ornaments I put on the tree will stay on it! With three cats and two kids...we'll see!

All I Want for Christmas...is a decent portrait of my family!

Seriously is it too much to ask to get a decent photo of the four of us? We have tried again and ....well, we'll try again. This time the photo ended up being the best it's ever been; but why is it so exhausting!

No one tells you before you have kids the anxiety that comes along with getting their pictures taken. I take pictures of the girls all the time, and I realize there are good times and bad. But something happens, and has happened since my first daughter's first photo session at three months old, when we walk into that photo studio - it always ends up bad!

One kid looks up, one looks down. One has a crooked bow, one has a crooked smile. One is laughing, one is crying. I could plan the photo first thing in the morning or at the end of the day....and it is never the right time. Then you add the Hubby and me into the mix.....forget about it! Sighhhhhhhhh. Maybe next year.

So, dear family if you're reading this, you'll get a picture, we're all in it....and let's just leave it at that.

Polly Pig Pink Cupcakes

Remember yesterday how I was mentioning that we're in high gear here getting ready for the holidays. Well today we took a break from that. It was rainy here all day. Yesterday Sydney told me she wanted to make cupcakes. As I've several times before tried to recruit my girls into the kitchen with me for a bake-fest and failed, I was all over this proactive suggestion.

Today the cupcake party was brought up again, so I knew we were on. After lunch, the girls and I gathered around the kitchen island to measure, pour and mix. Natalie watched while Sydney and I whisked eggs and poured in milk. The hard part was getting them to realize that they had to bake and cool before the decoration could begin. That's when nap time came in handy.

During their nap, I baked the cupcakes and made the frosting. Sydney decided she wanted it to be pink frosting, like her latest favorite animal, Polly, the pig. So we made Polly Pig Pink cupcakes. When Sydney woke, everything was ready to go. I did the frosting and she did the sprinkles. Some had way more sprinkles than others, but we evened them out. And below is the result.

It might have thrown our holiday preparation schedule off a bit, but it was well worth it!!

 

Chapter 35 - Living to Love What's Ahead

Today I turned 35.

"And I'm gonna be 40....someday!" When I heard Sally, from When Harry Met Sally, give that quote, (eek, 20 years ago) it's sure hard to believe I'll be saying 40 in just five years.

I've spent a lot of time looking in the mirror lately thinking, hmmm, maybe needles for Botox would be worth it?

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking what should I be doing next?

I've spent a lot of time lately teetering between thoughts of "am I too old for that?" and "I wonder if I could do that anymore?"

I so wanted to have this profound message to say for this year...but I just don't have one. Being 35 - I'm not really afraid of it or intimidated really. It's just kind of hard to believe I'm already here.

When I look around at my surroundings, I think I'm where I need to be by 35. I know most of what I think I should know by 35. I've seen a lot of what I think I should have seen by 35.

But then again....I feel there's so much I don't know. There's so much more I've craving to do. There are so many more lessons I need to learn. So while I may not have a list of 35 things I'm grateful for or 35 lessons I've learned in 35 years, I am pleased to say that 35, no matter what progresses this year, thus far has been a great birthday.

Here are some highlights:

• I received some beautiful (and unexpected) jewelry from my husband.
• We had family in town to help celebrate.
• We had family in town to be babysitters....and the Hubby and I got a much needed (appreciated) night out.
• I received a number of cards in the mail.
• I received phone messages and calls from dear friends.
• A beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to my door.
• I got the annual call from my mother telling me about the day I was born.
• My daughter acted out a Snoopy birthday card by surprisingly licking my face when I opened it.
• I had many thoughtful birthday wishes from email and Facebook.
• We took a love road trip to Fredericksburg today to enjoy a meal out, shopping, walking, lovely weather and photographing.
• And last but not least, my older daughter picked out my birthday cake (see below)....and my baby girl gave her best rendition of Happy Birthday.

So, here's to 35 and what's ahead....and mannnnyyyyy morrrrrre......Cha, Cha, Cha!

 

A Good Morning for a Hike

The grandparents are in town this weekend. When we have guests, we enjoy dining out. To work off those meals out, a nice hike helps. We're lucky to have several hiking trails near our house. I've been wanting to try out a trail off the road by Sydney's pre-school. Today we finally got the chance. It was a foggy morning, but the sun broke through to another gorgeous fall day.

Here are a few photos from St. Edwards trail.